“Even with expanded capacity for this year’s festival, demand for tickets was extremely high,” said Barbara Fusco with the Brewers Association. “Most tickets went into carts on Ticketmaster very quickly, as soon as the ticket sale opened. We are terrifically excited to introduce this year’s bigger, beerier event to some 60,000 total attendees in Denver this September.”

The official time didn’t necessarily reflect the experience among the hordes trying to access Ticketmaster. Minutes after the ticket window opened at 10 a.m. MT, the system started showing messages that tickets were not available for some of the sessions.

It left many people who wanted to attend the festival venting frustration and anger on Twitter. (See a timeline of #GABF ticket sales below.)

The official sellout messages from the @GABF Twitter account, however, didn’t come until much later.

The logo was designed by Denver-based Cultivator Advertising and Design, which has also done work for Breckenridge Brewery, Great Divide and New Belgium Brewing.

Welcome to The State of Craft Beer.

You may have heard that phrase before. The Colorado Brewers Guild, the nonprofit advocate and promoter of the state’s 200-plus independent craft brewers, has been using it for years in its marketing efforts.

Now “Colorado, The State of Craft Beer” is the foundation of a new guild consumer brand campaign meant to draw more attention to Colorado’s flourishing brewery scene at a time when the industry continues to take off nationally.

Upslope’s latest is 7.6 percent alcohol by volume (provided by the brewery)

If you are looking for the poster beer for how far canned craft beer has come, consider the latest offering from Upslope Brewing Co.

The second in a limited series of specialty beers, Barrel Aged Brown Ale is rich and complex, the result of four months aging in Maryland-style rye whiskey barrels from small-batch Denver distillery Leopold Bros.

The 19.2 ounce can is tall, sleek and elegantly designed in silver and white with a dash of Upslope maroon. Nothing like a tallboy of swill.

Brewery co-founder Matt Cutter envisions his creation being stored in cellars and enjoyed months and even years from now as it matures and gains character. That’s right — a canned beer you can age.

Tickets made available to the general public for the annual Great American Beer Festival vanished in a flash this morning for the third consecutive year, with most tickets for the 2014 edition being snatched up and tossed into online sales queues just a few minutes in and the official sell out declared 32 minutes after sales began at 10 a.m. MT.

Tickets disappeared in less than 20 minutes last year and in about 45 minutes two years ago, according to the Brewers Association, which stages the annual celebration of hops and malt at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver.

Members-only tickets to the most in-demand sessions vanished quickly – but not as quickly as last year (Karl Gehring, The Denver Post)

Today’s members-only Great American Beer Festival pre-sale appeared to come off smoothly without the technical glitches that marred the last two years, but there was an interesting twist – the ticket allotment took longer than last year to disappear.

Tickets made available early for members of the American Homebrewers Association and the Brewers Association sold out in four and a half hours, compared to about 90 minutes last year, said Barbara Fusco, sales and marketing director for the Boulder-based BA.

That sounds striking on the surface but note that the main holdup was slower sales for the Saturday evening session, which has gained a reputation over the years as being rowdier and just not as attractive to hard-core beer geeks buying today’s tickets.

Beer drinkers, mark your calendar: tickets to GABF 2014 are on sale in late July (Karl Gehring, The Denver Post)

Organizers of the Great American Beer Festival on Friday unveiled the dates of this year’s ticket sales and a price increase for members of the general public attending the main sessions.

First, the dates to remember – July 29 and 30. The 29th is the online ticket sale reserved for members of the American Homebrewers Association and the Brewers Association. This has become an increasingly popular route toward obtaining tough-to-get GABF tickets, and it hasn’t been problem free, either.

Our new iPad app serves as a guide to metro Denver’s bountiful breweries, beer bars and bottle shops, the holy trinity of craft beer enjoyment for followers and fans. Download the app for iPad .
Next time you head for a beer in Boulder, don’t forget your friend, Beers of Boulder and Boulder County, an iPad app from the Daily Camera. Download the app for iPad .

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In Colorado, our pint glasses overflow with excellent beer. New breweries, new batches, festivals every other week. How lucky are we? First Drafts is The Denver Post's beer blog aimed at helping you keep tabs on the state's ever-expanding craft beer culture. We offer a mash of news, event coverage, homegrown stories, tasting notes and tips to help you imbibe. Expert drinker or homebrewer? Let us know what you're loving about Colorado's beer scene. Not sure exactly what a firkin is? No worries, let us be your guide. Go ahead. Belly up and drink it in!